Heat exchanger



Dec. 23, 1952 H. A. BENDFELT HEAT EXCHANGER Filed Sept. 28, 1948 FIG.1.

INVENTOR: Herbert AJBendfe/f Af/omey Patented Dec. 23, 1952 HEAT EXCHANGER Herbert A. Bendfelt, Oak Park, Ill., assignor to Mills Industries, Incorporated, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application September 28, 1948, Serial No. 51,529

This invention relates to heat exchangers and has as one of its objects the provision of a heat exchanger having a pair of opposed surfaces, one or more of which may be refrigerated, and having a generally U-shaped conduit which may be readily and removably inserted between and in contact with said surfaces, whereby liquids or the like contained by said conduit will be refrigerated.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in a heat exchanger of the aforesaid character, a conduit, of a generally U-shape, having spring-like qualities tending to separate its ngitudinal members, said spring-like qualities serving to force said longitudinal members against the opposed surfaces of the heat exchanger to thereby hold the conduit in place and provide positive heat exchange contact between said conduit and said surfaces.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of an application of my invention which is useful, for example, for cooling syrup prior to its discharge from a beverage vending machine of the type which I have described and claimed in my pending application for Letters Patent, Serial No. ,77 filed August 9, 1947;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1, showing in broken lines the contour of the U-shaped conduit prior to its be- 1 In the drawing the numeral 10 identifies, generally, a series of oval cooling coils which may be attached in any well known manner to a refrigeration compressor (not shown) of commercial construction which will cause a suitable refrigeratin medium to pass through said coils and refrigerate the same. In the embodiment shown, said coils are wrapped about and secured to the outside of an open top tank or. container, shown generally at H, having a bottom l2, opposed vertical side walls l3 and I4, and ends 15 and Hi. If the heat exchanger of my invention is to be employed in a beverage vending machine which uses water as one of the ingredients of the beverage, a water filter I! may be disposed in a vertical position within the container H at one end thereof, and a water carbonator [8 may be similarly arranged in the other nd of said container, suitable pipes or tubing (not shown) being used to conduct the water to and from said filter and carbonator to the other parts of the dispensing machine each of the fittings.

6 Claims. (Cl. 257-242) which form no part of the present invention and are consequently not shown in the drawing.

Two vertical channels l9 and 20, of' U-shaped cross-section for example, may be disposed on the inner surfaces of the side walls I3 and 14, respectively, with the open sides of said channels in opposed position. Said channels may be secured to the walls as by soldering or the like or may be merely held in their vertical positions by the spreading action of a conduit 2| which a is about to be described. As thus arranged, said channels [9 and 20 serve as a track or race for receiving a U-shaped conduit shown generally at 2|, which comprises two'longitudinal members or legs 22 and 23" connected by a bottom loop 24. The conduit, which maybe constructed of steel or the like, has spring-like qualities which tend to separate the longitudinal members 22 and 23 so that the normal contour of said conduit is of the shape illustrated by the broken lines in Fig. 2. 'A male fitting 25 may be threaded into each of the 'free ends of the conduit 2| and a nipple 26 may be provided on To one of the nipples 26 may be fastened a flexible tube 21 which may conduct syrup, for example, from a supply tank 28 to the conduit 2|. A similar tube 29 may be fastened to the other nipple 26 and serve to conduct said syrup or other liquid from the conduit to a discharge nozzle 30.

As will be seen from Fig. '2, the horizontal measurement across the loop portion 24 'of the conduit 2|, from one outside surface to the other, is substantially equal to or' slightly less than the distance between the walls of the channels I9 and 20 secured to the opposite side walls I3 and H of the container ll. To assemble the conduit 2| with the remaining portion of the heat exchanger, the loop portion 24 of the conduit is first placed in the upper or "open ends of the channels in the 'position'shown by the broken lines in Fig. 2. said conduit is then pushed downwardly or into said channels to the position shown by the solid'lines'in Fig. 2. In

so doing the longitudinal" members 22 and 23 of the conduit are forced toward each other to a parallel position to' allow passage of the conduit into the channels. When the conduit has thus been received within said channels it 'will be seen that the 'spring likeftendency of the 'conduit to spread its" longitudinal-'members" 22 and 23 will force the same tightly against the channels to hold the conduit firmly in place and to provide positive heat exchange contact between the conduit and the walls of the channels which. of course wl1l be refriger al' ed. by the coils Ill which are wrapped about andare secured to "the container H in metal-to-metal contact. "In a'd dition thereto, it will be seen that the conduit 2| may be easily and quickly removed from the channels merely by pulling the former upwardly out of the channels, whereupon the longitudinal members 22 and 23 of the conduit will spring outwardly to their separated positions shown by the broken lines in Fig. 2. It will also be observed that when said conduit is disposed in its assembled position between the channels, the free ends thereof are readily accessible for the removal or adjustment of the fittings or nipples thereon, and the heat of the contents of the conduit will be removed by the refrigeration of the coils ID.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, for it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim: v

1. A heat exchanger comprising: a pair of elements providing opposed surfaces fixed relative to each other; means for refrigerating at least one of said surfaces; and a conduit for containing matter to be refrigerated, said conduit being disposed between said surfaces and compris ing a resilientli-shaped member, the leg portions of which are normally flared to a V-shape with an over-all dimension in substantially the entire length thereof greater than the distance between said surfaces, whereby when said member is inserted between said surfaces said leg portions are forced against said surfaces to retain said conduit between the latter and to provide a positive heat exchange contact between said surfaces and said conduit.

2. A heat exchanger comprising: a pair of elements providing opposed surfaces fixed relative to each other; means for refrigerating at least one of said surfaces; and a one-piece conduit for containing matter to be refrigerated, said conduit being disposed between said surfaces and comprising a resilient U-shaped member, the leg portions of which are normally flared to a V-shape with an over-all dimension in substantially the entire length thereof greater than the distance between said surfaces, whereby when said member is inserted between said surfaces said leg portions are forced against said surfaces to retain said conduit between the latter and to each other; means for refrigerating at least one of said surfaces; and a conduit for containing matter to be refrigerated, said conduit being removably disposed between said surfaces and comprising a resilient U-shaped member, the le portions of which are normally flared to a V-shape with an over-all dimension in substantially the entire length thereof greater than the distance between said surfaces, whereby when said member is inserted between said surfaces said leg portions are forced against said surfaces to retain said conduit between the latter and to provide a-positive heat exchange contact between said surfaces and said conduit.

4. A heat exchanger comprising: a coil adapted to contain a cold refrigerant; a pair of elements providing opposed surfaces fixed relative to each other and. in heat exchange relation with said coil; and a conduit for containing matter to be refrigerated, said conduit being disposed between said surfaces and comprising a pair of connected substantially parallel spaced members, said conduit also having a spring-like quality tending to separate said members each from the other, the distance between said opposed surfaces being less than the normal over-all lateral dimension of said spaced members of the conduit prior to their insertion between said surfaces whereby when the latter is inserted between said surfaces said members are forced against said surfaces throughout substantially the entire area of contact to retain said conduit therebetween and to provide a positive heat exchange contact between said surfaces and said conduit.

5. A heat exchanger comprising: a coil adapted to contain a cold refrigerant; a pair of channel members providing opposed surfaces in fixed relation to each other and in heat exchange relation with said coil; and a conduit for con; taining matter to be refrigerated, said conduit comprising a pair of connected substantially parallel spaced members adapted to be slidably received by said channels, and having aspringlike quality tending to separate said members each from the other, the distance between said opposed surfaces being less than the normal over-all lateral dimension of said spaced members of conduit prior to their insertion between said surfaces whereby when the latter is inserted between said surfaces said members will be forced against said surfaces throughout substantially the entire area of contact to retain said conduit therebetween and to provide a positive heat exchange contact between said surfaces and said conduit.

6. A heat exchanger for cooling the ingredients of a beverage comprising: a water-cooling tank having walls of heat-conductive material; a cooling coil surroundin said tank and in intimate contact with the exterior walls thereof; a syrupcooling tube of U-shape insertable in said container, said tube being made of heat-conductive material and being normally flared prior to insertion in the container to a V-shape, said mem- HERBERT A. BENDF'ELT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,457,009 Tanner Dec. 21, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 334,333 Great Britain Sept. 4, 1930 413,504 Germany Mar. 11, 1925 

